Raising Minimum Wage Essay

Some argue that if an increase in minimum wage is passed businesses will raise the prices of goods and services to help compensate the cost of pay raises. The cost in goods and services is already on an increase due to the high host of gas/oil, yet we are

Many Americans work solely to pay for food, electricity, and housing. In response to this “nearly 30 states have raised their minimum wage to combat job loss, poverty, and economic inflation.” (http://www.pewresearch.org). This just goes to show that more than two thirds of the country are willing to raise their wages, because the local government thinks that it is absolutely necessary in order to allow people to live sustainably. States such as California have raised their wages up to as high as $15.00! Raising the minimum wage has helped many people begin to start to live healthy lives, and it provides a way for families to expend for necessities if they work at or near minimum wage,

The minimum wage debate has been a hot topic over the past year, especially with the Presidential Election. This is a divisive topic that people rarely agree upon. There are essentially two sides you can take when it comes to this argument. Either people are for minimum wage or are against raising, or even having, a minimum wage. Proponents of the minimum wage are typically politicians who are lobbying for the vote of the people who feel that a minimum wage is critical to their wellbeing, and those who sympathize with people who earn “minimum wage”. Minimum wage is destroying America’s free market economy and someone needs to take action and find a better solution to this problem. Without anyone acting on this problem now, it can potentially be worse in the long run. Raising the minimum wage in the United States will do more harm than good to society because of the long-term effects.

In 2009 when the federal minimum wage was increased to $7.25 per hour, this is the last time that the minimum wage for Wisconsin was increased. I for one as a college student have a hard time paying for college only making around minimum wage. Other adults that have families and that are working for minimum wage have a much more difficult time providing for their families and paying for all of their expenses. In many cases some of them work two jobs just so their family can some extra money to do other activities. You have stated that helping people get careers that pay more than minimum wage is what you want to focus on, so there is no reason to increase the minimum wage for Wisconsin. I believe that the minimum wage in Wisconsin at this time is not high enough to pay for the average person’s lifestyle and should see a small increase to reduce the poverty in Wisconsin.

Should minimum wage be increased? Passage one strongly supports and gives details on why minimum wage should be raised. Many workers are asking for a national minimum wage increase to $15 per hour, while others say that a higher minimum wage will stifle business and ultimately hurt the economy. So, should the minimum wage be increased or not? The federal minimum wage was introduced in 1938 during the Great Depression under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It was initially set at $0.25 per hour and has been increased by Congress 22 times, most recently in 2009 when it went from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour. 29 states plus the District of Columbia (DC) have a minimum wage higher than the federal minimum wage. 2,561,000 workers earn the federal minimum wage or below.

The federal minimum wage shouldn’t be higher because it doesn’t contribute to society, the people of America should be paid more because an average person in today 's society cannot survive, and parents can’t provide a stable environment for their children, the work being done is worth than what is being received, the underpaid are made to have multiple jobs just to make ends meet.

Do you believe that all jobs that require little to no skill deserve more than the federal minimum wage? If you said yes then perhaps you are unaware of the many negative effects surrounding a higher minimum wage and after reading this you will be educated on why the minimum wage should not be raised. In the beginning, the minimum wage was created with good intentions. It was originally established in 1938 and was $.25 an hour (Sessions). It was created to make sure that businesses would not take advantage over workers. While the minimum wage was and still is a good concept, it has some flaws. The major issue is that the minimum wage continues to be raised. The main reason for the increasing of the minimum wage is because people who make

. Burkhauser found no evidence that minimum wage increases were effective at lowering overall poverty rates or poverty rates among workers. Even by targeting populations that raising the minimum wage was supposed to protect, such as less educated single mothers, Burkhauser confirms that minimum wage increases did little to alleviate poverty for less educated single mothers as well. Additionally, David Neumark of the University of California-Irvine and William Wascher of the Federal Reserve Board analyzed family-specific flows in and out of poverty as a result of an uptick in the minimum wage. Neumark and Wascher used current population survey data and found that when the minimum wage was increased some workers were lifted out of poverty, but others lost their jobs and found themselves in poverty as a result of raising the minimum wage. Neumark and Wascher’s findings suggest that minimum wage hikes only redistribute income among the poor and near-poor households. Only junior high school dropouts seem

“An increase in the minimum wage will boost income for the poorest workers without the danger of creating more unemployment.” (Obama). The argument whether the minimum wage in America should be increased of not has been a debatable topic for years. If the leaders of county could manage to increase the minimum wage, millions of families would profit from such an outcome.

Fast food workers around the country are fighting to raise the hourly pay minimum wage and their union rights.

(http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/09/news/economy/jobs_december/) Today, the minimum wage is $9.00 per hour but on January 1, 2016; the wage is going to increase $11 per hour. Some people believe that the solution to this problem is to automatically raise the minimum wage, however doing so would have a profound impact in a negative light on the United States’, businesses, and the

I'm tackling the topic of increasing the minimum wage of employee. Most people in america live on minimum wage and some people even work full time. the lower the income the higher support from the government you will get. In my opinion, i don't think we should increase our minimum wages because it will effect small business, the unemployment rates will increase, and increase of price control.

While it may be easier to say that the reason workers cannot support their families is that they do not work enough hours, full time workers working for minimum wage can also not afford to survive efficiently in this economy. The Times Editorial Board from the La Times states, “A full-time minimum-wage worker with one dependent barely makes enough today to stay above the federal poverty line of $15,510 a year. But most minimum-wage workers don't have the luxury of full-time positions.” If the government does not ensure that enough full time work is available for workers who need those hours to support their family, they should at least ensure that the minimum wage be enough to compensate for that lack of work. However, this is not currently the case. Between the low minimum wage and an already low amount of hours available to workers, the results are fewer positions that will allow people to comfortably support their

The idea of having a federal minimum wage is a good one. The idea is to protect low and unskilled workers from discrimination and allow all workers to earn a living wage. The recent debate on the floor, though, is whether or not to raise the minimum wage from the current $7.25 per hour up to $10.10 per hour. President Barack Obama made this proposal during his annual State of the Union Address on January 28, and following this there were many hot debates about it. The debates focused not only on the advantages and the disadvantages of increasing the minimum wage, but also the alternatives to increasing it.

This is a true statement, but opposition says that this only drives up the standard of living and inflation rate in the world. Inflation is defined as the overall general upward price movement of goods and services in an economy. Although some people who earn the minimum wage are teenagers, almost two-thirds are adults. The average minimum wage worker brings home about half of his family's earnings. Increasing the minimum wage will help these workers to make up for lost ground due to inflation and it will help make work pay. Though inflation is one of the main problems in our economy and even though inflation and minimum wage are directly related, increasing minimum wage will give opportunity for a lot of lower class families to make enough to afford important things, such as insurance. If someone takes a trip to the doctor, with no insurance, they will most likely have to pay around eight- hundred dollars out of pocket. This would take anyone at least three months on minimum wage with two incomes to pay off these medical bills. Barak Obama’s plan to institute a health care plan for everyone will relieve a huge burden on people and also allow them to stay above the poverty line. Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute says, “Jacking the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.25 would give a raise to 10 million workers, including many currently earning their state